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With a 50-year-experience, Selva Marine is one of the iconic Italian boating brands. Its main seat is in Tirano (Sondrio).
A company with two souls: that one dedicated to production, which can count on a complete production cycle, without considering that Selva services Yanmar for their sail and stern drives and Torquedo for the components of the electric outboards Seven Marine and Neander. And the commercial one, which has as its core business the distribution, in collaboration with Yamaha, of package boats.
Carlo Selva, aged 26, with great energy and tons of enthusiasm, represents the third generation in the company.
“This year is a very good year” he told us when we met him at Navigami in Milan, “we have already produced all our rubber boats. We build about 150 dinghies a year and we are full. We had a great acceleration even on motors, maybe we got the right sales policy with our dealers adn we managed to shake things up. In particular, our collaboration with Yamaha has never been so good like now. Moreover, North-European markets are giving us many satisfactions”.
How important are foreign markets for you?
“They are every important. Today, Italy represents 30% for us. These years, we have been at crossroads: we had to increase our margins – but a price increase was out of the question – or our volumes. We chose the second option. This is why we have focused a lot on Northern Europe. We are making lots of sacrifices and important investments, but we know they will pay us back. As always, we start from the bottom. We expect it will take 4 years before reaching profits. It’s a long time but we believe in it and we are investing a lot. If we do a think, we do it well.
Which countries do you focus on?
“United Kingdom and Sweden are very active and they are offering some excellent prospects of collaboration. In the United Kingdom we take part in the Boat Show of London and Southampton and all the other local events; we have 10 dealers. In Sweden, we have 19 dealers and we take part at the Boat Show of Stockholm and Goteborg. For us, this is a “return” to the North. In the days of speedboat racing, Selva was very popular. At our first shows in Sweden and UK three years ago, older people recognised and greeted us, while for the others Selva is a total new brand. We focus on Made in Italy; this is why we have added the Italian flag in the logo designed for Northern Europe.
And what about Italy?
“We are satisfied. We have registered a sales increase of 30% compared to last year. We work well with rubber boats. And, in fact, we have finished our production and, unfortunately, we can’t accept new orders… “
So, we can say that you are experiencing a recover?
“Yes, we are. People want to buy boats again, but with a new life style and the request for lower consumption”
What are the news for the new season?
“We are planning a restyling of the Emotion Line we produce with Marlin, in particular of 540, 630 and 790. New colours and new preformed heat-sealed pillows. At the Boat Show of Genoa we’ll bring the new 115 and maybe we will present it before”.
What about customisation?
“It’s a question we are facing. The problem is that storing is difficult and the cost of materials, especially in the case of rubber boats, rise”.
